Nintendo ordered to pay $10M following Wii patent infringement suit

A federal lawsuit filed against Nintendo in 2013 by iLife Technology has ended in a jury awarding $10 million to the technology firm following its claims that Nintendo violated its patents to create the Wii’s motion-tracking tech.

In December 2013, iLife first alleged that Nintendo violated six of its patents, including one in particular that it had filed for its own motion-tracking tech designed to help monitor and detect sudden infant death syndrome and, in the case of the elderly, dangerous falls.

Previously, Nintendo’s legal team had argued that the patent itself was invalid for “lack of an adequate written description.” Though the company conceded that both applications made use of an accelerometer, a sensor, and a processor, Nintendo said that both it and iLife took “very different paths” with how the technology was used.

According to Glixel, iLife originally sought a $4 per unit royalty payment for each of the 36 million Wii and Wii U systems sold in the six years ahead of the suit for a total of $144 million. The Texas jury today ruled for a $10 million award in iLife’s favor, roughly 25 cents per Wii sold.